NCN paths: are they manageable on skinny tyres
- Thread starter gbs
- Start date
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Simply untrue.
IME the typical off-road NCN path is usually hardpacked aggregate or tarmac. I would say these are perfectly doable with say 25mm tyres. I have occasionally come across sections that are bridleway and either gravelly or muddy (eg there's a section above Avebury and the descent to Avebury itself). IME these aren't common I think there should be a some way or indicating these sections but unfortunately SFAIK there isn't.
Try google images or google maps or even google street view for pictures.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Do you have any knowledge of the specific routes requested?
You seem to be talking about general NCN routes, Cuno was responding to the specific routes in the OP.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
They've changed it to route 666 (or something sinister like that 
) but the main NCN 1 at used to go up Binn hill from Burntisland, its a 10 % wooded (always damp) off road section, my old 28mm tyres just made it up with a bit of wheel spin. However some sections of their routes are OK, you have to pick and choose, thats where local knowledge is handy; I cant comment on the OP's routes.
) but the main NCN 1 at used to go up Binn hill from Burntisland, its a 10 % wooded (always damp) off road section, my old 28mm tyres just made it up with a bit of wheel spin. However some sections of their routes are OK, you have to pick and choose, thats where local knowledge is handy; I cant comment on the OP's routes.
[QUOTE 1448298"]
I find that it depends how much tree counsel they've got. More trees means prolonged watering of the track and this can make them muddy and wear the surface down.
Example - the Camel Trail is mostly ok between Wadebridge and Padstow where it's largely exposed. The other way, to Bodmin through the woods, can be nasty, boggy and wet.
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But only in small patches, the entire route is easily doable on skinny tyres even after rain
I find that it depends how much tree counsel they've got. More trees means prolonged watering of the track and this can make them muddy and wear the surface down.
Example - the Camel Trail is mostly ok between Wadebridge and Padstow where it's largely exposed. The other way, to Bodmin through the woods, can be nasty, boggy and wet.
[/quote]
But only in small patches, the entire route is easily doable on skinny tyres even after rain
FreewheelingUK
Active Member
- Location
- Brighton, United Kingdom
Yep - I cycled this route in March, in a circular trip from Portsmouth, Brighton, Crawley, Woking and Guildford.
I spent an awful lot of time walking!
There are large sections of this route that is simply impassible on a road bike. I was on a Thorn Nomad with Marathon XRs and had issues, including giving up and returning to a road detour on two occasions.
I spent an awful lot of time walking!
There are large sections of this route that is simply impassible on a road bike. I was on a Thorn Nomad with Marathon XRs and had issues, including giving up and returning to a road detour on two occasions.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Which bits of the OP's intended route did you find impassible?
everything round here is dry as a bone at the moment but may well have been different in March
I've ridden NCN route 20 between Brighton and Pyecombe a bunch of times. From Pyecombe you're on a cycle path alongside the A27, or on private roads that are classified as bridleways. I think there's a small section that isn't that well-surfaced but otherwise it's all paved or tarmac with a few tree roots but no holes. After that you're on London Road/Preston Road to get into Brighton. It's a cycle lane mostly on the road, hopping onto the pavement sometimes. The pavement is ok but you'd be all right staying on the road if you prefer.
You'll need to take a detour on a local route if you want to actually go to Devil's Dyke. Don't take 89 (South Downs Way)! Though it is pretty, so you could take 82 to Devil's Dyke and then take 89 back to Route 20 if you don't mind walking a bit.
You'll need to take a detour on a local route if you want to actually go to Devil's Dyke. Don't take 89 (South Downs Way)! Though it is pretty, so you could take 82 to Devil's Dyke and then take 89 back to Route 20 if you don't mind walking a bit.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
ftfy
Surely it is, or can be if you ignore a bit of 82, road all the way from the city centre up to the Devil's Dyke, and then road all the way over to Poynings and Newtimber and then on to NCN 20 north of Pyecombe?
Yeah that's true, I was thinking of it from the POV of following the NCN route as much as possible.
I find the road route to Devil's Dyke annoying, personally. Dyke Road Avenue has a cycle lane but you can't use because the cars park at regular intervals on it, then Devil's Dyke Road is pretty bumpy which I wouldn't mind except it's also quite busy for part of it.
(Oh and thanks for the fix. I didn't know ftfy. Also, I live on Lewes Road so I think everything's the A27.)
I find the road route to Devil's Dyke annoying, personally. Dyke Road Avenue has a cycle lane but you can't use because the cars park at regular intervals on it, then Devil's Dyke Road is pretty bumpy which I wouldn't mind except it's also quite busy for part of it.
(Oh and thanks for the fix. I didn't know ftfy. Also, I live on Lewes Road so I think everything's the A27.)
Dyke Road Avenue isn't just bumpy - it's spookily bumpy. One imagines that human sacrifices were laid in the sub-base, heads pointing toward one side of the road, toes to the other, in the style of Hawksmoor, and, as tne earth claimed their remains back, so the sub-base gave way, leaving the roadway corrugated.
Saddlescombe Road is the dangerous one. There aren't many roads in England I don't fancy, but this is one of them. If you're going north then Devils Dyke Road makes a much better and more scenic diversion. If you're going south I'd avoid the entire thing and go over Ditchling, Clayton Hill being not much fun either.
NCN paths vary greatly. Some of NCN 4 is sweet, but parts of NCN 1 through Gravesend and Rochester are a disgrace, but can, happily, be avoided. It's best to make particular enquiries rather than general assumptions.
Saddlescombe Road is the dangerous one. There aren't many roads in England I don't fancy, but this is one of them. If you're going north then Devils Dyke Road makes a much better and more scenic diversion. If you're going south I'd avoid the entire thing and go over Ditchling, Clayton Hill being not much fun either.
NCN paths vary greatly. Some of NCN 4 is sweet, but parts of NCN 1 through Gravesend and Rochester are a disgrace, but can, happily, be avoided. It's best to make particular enquiries rather than general assumptions.
Yep. I had taken his post as a general comment about the NCN. But looking again I think I may have misinterpreted him. Cunobelin if i have misinterpreted you my apologies. I say 'may' because of the reference to the Cuckoo Trail which isn't on the route the OP asked about.
I'm a little confused: the Sustrans mapping shows the NCN running out of Brighton alongside the A23 and not via Devil's Dyke Road etc. I am also struggling a little bit to identify which of the 'off-road' bits might be muddy single-track. The main stretch of 'off-road' is the path alongside the A23. I only have very vague memories of this so I looked in google images and the very few photos of it seem to suggest that it's tarmac/aggregate. I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong. It would help the OP if people actually 'georeferenced' their comments (as dellzeq has done) so the OP knows which bits to avoid.
In any event, in all honesty I would avoid (or at least try to minimise the amount of) riding along the A23 (even if it's not on the road itself) just because it will be dull and noisy (or again that might be my memory being unfair). You could for example get off the A23 at the junction with the B2117 and then head along the backroads via Holme Pierpoint. I think there's a route in one of the Nick Cotton books if you have one to hand.
